Visual Astronomy

Panos Photinos is a professor of physics at Southern Oregon University (SOU), where he teaches Introductory Astronomy, Observational Astronomy and Cosmology. Prior to joining SOU in 1989 he held faculty appointments at the Liquid Crystal Institute, Kent, Ohio; St. Francis Xavier, Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada; and the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was visiting faculty at the University of Sao Paulo, Brazil; the University of Patras, Greece; Victoria University at Wellington, New Zealand; and the University of Melbourne, Australia. Panos completed his undergraduate degree in physics at the National University of Athens, Greece, and received his doctorate in physics from Kent State University, Kent, Ohio. He started naked-eye observations as a child in the Red Sea, and later upgraded to a pair of Merchant brass binoculars in Alexandria, Egypt, and in his homeland, the island of Ikaria, Greece. Ever since he has visited and stargazed from all five continents, and shared his fascination with the night sky with students of all ages. He lives near Mt Ashland where he enjoys the beautiful skies of Southern Oregon from his backyard with his wife Shelley. This is Panos' first book on Astronomy.

Introduction
The Celestial Sphere and Apparent Motion of the Sun
Coordinate Systems
Motion and Phases of the Moon
The Planets
Comets, Meteoroids, and Meteor Showers
Constellations, Asterisms and Star Names
Star Properties
Telescopes
Appendix A: Measuring Angles
Appendix B: Measuring Distance in Astronomy
Appendix C: Time Keeping
Star Magnitude Systems and Distance Modulus